Lost Sister, Lost Words
by goodluckdetective
Summary: Karai never wanted siblings. Until she found herself with four great ones.


Karai never thought about what it would be like to have siblings.

There was no point. Her mother was dead and God knew that the Shredder didn't plan on having any love affairs in the near future (and thank God for that). Siblings were out of the picture and even if they weren't, she figured they would be just as distant as her fellow Foot soldiers were. So she didn't dwell on it. She soaked up her the Shredder's single-minded attention, and let herself be the only child of the Foot clan. She let herself enjoy the silence, the quiet that pervaded her home, the stillness of the halls when her father was away. And she never thought about what it would be like if she had a younger brother or sister to follow close behind her.

Well, most of the time. Because sometimes, when it was late into the night and the Shredder was asleep, she would pull out her mother's photo and stare at it. She would take in her beautiful long hair, her soft smile and her deep brown eyes. She would ask questions, questions she would never dare to ask the Shredder. Did her mother want more than one child? Did she ever consider it? And if she did, would that child have carried that same smile that Karai so dearly wished that she had inherited?

Donatello did not have her mother's smile. Nor did he have her eyes. The idea of him having any hair was laughable. There was no lingering presence of Tang Shen's appearance in his lengthy frame. But as Karai watched her younger brother place his hand against her forehead, taking care to be gentle, she couldn't help but see her mother in his place.

"How are you feeling?" He said, keeping his hand on her forehead ,checking her temperature for the 5th time that day. The fever she'd carried after being cured of her mutation had been gone for two days now, but it didn't stop Donatello from checking for it anyway every few hours or so. Karai was torn between finding it annoying and comforting. She'd never been fussed over before. The Foot clan was not one naturally suited for worrywarts. The Hamatos, on the other hand, seemed to take to it like air.

"I'm fine," she said, meaning every word. The mutagen that once flowed through her veins was gone now, cured by a formula Donatello had come up with the week before. Scales no longer decorated her frame. Her tongue was no longer forked. She had fingers. Despite lingering resentment and rage, she was as close to fine as she'd been in ages.

"Are you sure?" Donatello pressed his hand against her hand harder like he was worried he was missing the fever by not trying hard enough. His mouth was parted just a little, enough to show off his gapped teeth. She wondered if they had always been like that or if he'd had his teeth bashed in somewhere down the line.

The thought made her heart sink a little. How old was he again? 15? That was far too young.

To be honest, they were all far too young.

"I'm positive," she pushed off his hand and stood up. She didn't like staying still, not since the Foot started hunting her like prey. She tried to take a step forward, only to almost fall on her face. It was only Donatello who stopped her from crashing to the ground. Walking, ever since she'd been cured, had been a bit of a challenge. She still wasn't used to her own two legs. Leonardo and Mikey, with Donatello's instruction, had been helping her through it, guiding her through the process of taking one step after another. It'd helped her get the basics back for the most part but taking the first few steps was still difficult. Part of her was scared it always would be.

"Here," Donatello took her arm and grabbed it. "Just one foot after the other." She hid a smile at that. She'd been hearing that song a lot recently. Mikey liked to sing it, off key and off pitch, when she got stuck. It was both annoying and sweet. Karai looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes. They were there. She had her legs back. She could walk. Then, focusing on Donatello's hand on her arm, she took her first step. This time, she didn't stumble.

Donatello didn't say anything. He just let go of her arm. Karai walked over to his work bench and placed her hands on the desk. She'd wanted to look it over since she'd woken up in his lab a few days ago. It wasn't a very nice desk, beaten up and scratched. Nothing like the desks she had back at the Foot clan. She assumed that her father scrapped it from a dumpster. Despite being trash, the thing looked well loved, names, formulas and drawing etched into the wooden surface. She could see her brothers' names etched in both English and Japanese in the middle of the table. The drawings caught most of her attention, probably because they were the most amusing. They weren't very good, mostly stick figures, but she could make out what they were supposed to be. There was one of each of his brothers, each of them in a fighting pose with Donatello at the front. Doodle wish fulfillment. Underneath them, right near what looked to be a coffee stain, was one of her father, glaring up at the ceiling. Despite the sloppy lines, Donatello had captured her father's glare perfectly. Off in the corner, next to a few screws was one of a small robot, though it looked to be more like plans than an actual drawing. She wondered if he ever ended up building it. Her gaze traveled to one near a pile of files and she couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her face.

"Nice drawings," she said, gesturing to one in the corner. It consisted of a small cluster of hearts, like something out of a love note. All it needed was a " _random name + Hamato_ " and it'd be the perfect cliché. Her brother raced over next to her, eyes panicked. She'd struck a nerve. Not a painful one, just embarrassing. He pushed some of his files over the drawings, obscuring the image.

"Those aren't mine. They're Mikey's," He was talking like the words were desperate to escape his mouth, his voice high pitched. Like he was a regular old embarrassed human teenage boy. "He must have snuck into my lab again and planted this to embarrass….Karai?"

She wasn't paying attention. The file Donatello shoved over to hide his drawing had fallen open with the movement and she could now see the contents. Inside there were two pictures of her, one as a human and one as a mutant tapped to the left cover. They weren't great pictures, from surveillance video if she had to guess. On the right side there was a pile of papers, what Karai recognized as equations. Complicated equations. They weren't very neat, smudge marks and coffee stains all over the pieces of white paper, but she could make out the title at the top of the document. It too was written in both English and Japanese. The English version said " _Retromutagen for advanced strain_." The Japanese version was simpler. It only said " _Cure for Karai."_

She reached down and placed her hand over her mutant self, determined to block it from view. Her skin seemed to itch, like she was growing out scales again. Phantom feelings from another time. She ignored them. Now wasn't the time. Words took a little while to form. "This must have taken a lot of work."

"I…uh," Donatello said before he broke into rambling. Trying to brush off her compliment. She didn't pay attention to his excuses. The gravity of what her family went through to save her was sinking in again. Her brother must have slaved over this. Slaved over it to save her. A girl who showed him such little kindness in the past.

She turned to Donatello. He was still muttering, trying to brush all his hard work as a simple gesture. He didn't even notice her pulling him into a hug until her arms were around him. She placed her hands on the back of his shell and took a deep breath.

Karai wasn't good at saying thanks. But for now, she'd have to do her best.

"Thank you little brother," she whispered.

Donatello twitched. Then, with careful movements, he hugged Karai back.

"No problem."


End file.
